The subject matter herein relates generally to systems and methods for analyzing medical images, and more particularly, to systems and methods for monitoring a structure-of-interest (SOI) over time and/or monitoring the SOI's response to treatment.
One method of diagnosing patients for cancer includes comparing medical images acquired during different imaging sessions. For example, a patient may be scanned to obtain baseline CT imaging data of lesions within, for example, the patient's liver. A subsequent CT imaging session taken weeks or months later may help determine if the lesions have changed in size. Similarly, for patients that have already received a diagnosis that a suspected lesion is cancerous, the baseline CT imaging data may be taken prior to or at the beginning of treatment. After a predetermined amount of time and/or after a predetermined number of treatments, data from a subsequent CT imaging session may help determine if the treatment was effective.
However, when comparing the imaging data from different imaging sessions, a substantial amount of time may be used in loading, registering, and reviewing the images to determine if there has been a change in size of the lesions. For example, a radiologist may review a series of images from a first imaging session to locate and measure lesions from the first imaging session to establish baseline data. The measurements may then be loaded into a database or spreadsheet for subsequent analysis. When data from another imaging session is acquired, the radiologist may have to, again, review the series of newly acquired images, locate the lesions in the newly acquired images, and then measure the lesions to determine if a change in size has occurred. In a similar manner, imaging data from different imaging sessions may be compared to determine if a structure-of-interest has changed in function.
Accordingly, there is a need for systems and methods that reduce and/or simplify the process of analyzing imaging data to determine if an SOI has changed in size or function.